Amy Patterson – “My Thoughts”

Sometimes, today’s world makes me question bringing my hypothetical children into the life we are living.

Sometimes, today’s world makes me feel helpless and unsure about the future.

In today’s world, we reward the lazy and the irresponsible; we overlook the needy and those who could truly use a hand; we praise the criminals and minimize the heroes; we coddle our youth and encourage the “victim” mentality; we immortalize those who have done wrong while silencing the do-gooders.

This is the world we live in – the world we have created and allowed to flourish.

Someone has got to change this.

Yes, I’ve written about this before (I’m sure many of you think I’ve worn the topic out, but here we find ourselves, regardless). The problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Every day I see news stories about rape and murder. Every day you hear some sort of backwards thought process. Every. Day.

I read an internet article last week about a young man who went on a killing rampage because his advances towards women were rejected. This young man was a 22-year-old virgin and killed seven people, not counting himself, because of it.

This is the person today’s world has created.

Will someone please explain to me why we allow people to think this way? Why was the idea of this guy being “owed” something allowed to be seeded in his mind? How did that thought even enter the scene, and why was it not squashed?

Society today is reminiscent of a “participation ribbon” mentality…

Instead of teaching our children problem-solving skills and how to defend themselves, we have hardwired them to believe they are a victim.

Instead of encouraging the youngsters to work hard, be self-reliant, and right the wrongs in their lives (on their own), we are throwing elementary-aged kids into lawsuits and anti-bullying classes.

Are these kids going to grow up to be the men and women we want running the world? When little Tammy’s boss reprimands her for shoddy work, will she take it in stride or will she run to HR complaining of workplace cruelty? Will she call her mother to sweep up the mess she created?

Why are we allowing this?

Why have we allowed criminals to be martyred?

In the article about the 20-something guy killing people because he couldn’t find a girlfriend, comments were shared from people reading the news report. Young men left comment after comment blaming the girls who turned him down. “Well girls, keep that in mind the next time you friendzone somebody,” one comment read.

Are. You. Kidding. Me?!

This dude is not a victim! The world has not dealt this guy an unfair hand! He sounds like a sissy to me.

Yet, someone created this human being. Someone taught him what he knows (knew) and fostered this man’s mind-set. Someone allowed this to happen.

Aside from this case, think back to the Boston Marathon Bombing or other recent tragedies. People went on and on about the person who had committed the crime – did they suffer from a mental disease, what was their home life like, were they bullied or abused?

In many instances, these questions may have been posed in hopes of preventing history from repeating itself. Kuddos to that.

On the other hand, can we admit that school shootings, public bombings, and the like were not a rampant issue (like they are today) until the relatively recent past? History suffered from its share of horrible issues (yes, I’m talking about you, segregation!), of course, but our forefathers were not running into the middle of public places blowing people up. When, and how, did this become a problem?

I may be taking on a conservative approach here (call me close-minded, if you will), but aren’t all these problems fixable? With proper guidance, can’t all these issues be corrected and resolved (thus, prevented)? Adam Lanza’s father, if I remember correctly, called him “evil” and admitted his child had issues. Why are these situations not addressed and corrected?

I’m sure that’s a naive point-of-view for me to take on, but I just can’t wrap my mind around the idea that we can’t stop these occurrences from happening. It doesn’t make sense.

At the beginning of this column, I address a concern about bringing new life into this world. Maybe that’s a solution in itself. Maybe it’s our job (to those whose age is applicable) to bestow a hope of change and betterment with the birth of future generations. To those who aren’t applicable to that idea, it’s your job to teach the rest of the world how to live “right.”

It’s a heavy burden, especially for hypothetical babies, but I think that’s our responsibility as humans – to make the world a good place for the rest of the people living in it with us.

At least promise you’ll try.

Note: Sorry for the Debby-Downer column. Next week I’ll do my best to write about puppies and rainbows.